moral panics

• mods and rockers

  cohen's book 'folk devils and moral panics' examines societal responses to conflicts between the mostly working-class teenage mods and rockers

  • disorder was relatively minor with a few broken windows but the media produced a stocktake of what happened with three elements
  • exaggeration - the numbers involved and the extent of violence was distorted through headlines such as 'day of terror', 'held their breath'
  • prediction - regularly assumed there would be further violence
  • symbolisation - the symbols of the groups were all associated with deviance even when they were separate
• deviance amplification spiral

  cohen - the portrayal of the mods and rockers conflict in the media created an amplification spiral in which it was viewed as getting out of hand which led to calls for stricter policing, which further marginalises the two groups

  • the media also defined the two groups which led more youths to join them so future fights had more participants and created tight-knit gangs from loose groups and greater polarisation that caused the violence to escalate
  • media definitions are crucial in moral panic creation as the public have no direct experience of the conflict
• the wider context

  cohen - the mods and rockers conflict is based in post-war british society in which the affluence of young people challenged the values of older generations who had lived through the 30s and 40s

  • moral panics often occur at times of social change when accepted values feel undermined, and this one was the result of a 'boundary crisis' where the definition of acceptable behaviour is unknown
  • other examples of moral panics more recently involve reporting around dangerous dogs, aids and single parents
• perspectives on moral panics

  • functionalists - moral panics are a response to feelings of anomie, and by dramatising the threat to society as a folk devil the media strengthens the collective consciousness and reasserts social control
  • neo-marxism - the moral panic around 'mugging' in the 70s served to distract the public from the crisis of capitalism and divide the proletariat on racial grounds to legitimise a more authoritarian police system
• criticisms of moral panics

  • left realism - assumes societal reactions are disproportionate but fails to offer a concept of what a proportionate reaction is or what instances fairly constitute panic
  • there is no explanation for how the media choose causes to amplify or why some causes are more successful
  • feminists and marxists suggest they are chosen in order to uphold the patriarchy/bourgeoisie
  • mcrobbie + thornton - moral panics are now routine and have less impact in a desensitised late modern society, and with increased individualisation there is less consensus about what is deviant
• cyber-crime

  the arrival of new media usually leads to a new moral panic which is also true about the internet because of its development's speed and its scale. in this case it is the fear of cyber-crime, which can take both the form of conventional crimes (jewkes) or one of 4 new types (wall)

  • cyber-tresspass - crossing boundaries into someone else's cyber-property
  • cyber-deception
  • cyber-pornography
  • cyber-violence - inciting psychological or physical harm such as cyber-bullying
• global cyber-crime


  policing cyber-crime is difficult as the internet is so huge and so globalised which poses problems with jurisdiction, and the police culture also deprioritises cyber-crime as it is seen to lack the excitement and immediacy of more conventional policing

  • new technology developments also give police greater opportunity for surveillance and control
  • jewkes - ict permits routine surveillance and digital footprints are collected